After reading the transcript of the NRAís press conference where they had promised "meaningful contributions" to the discussion after Newtown, Iím surprised that Iím amazed, but I am. This is epistemic closure beyond the inability of the right-wing to believe the reality of last Novemberís re-election of Obama. For years, the NRA has been stoking fears of "jackbooted thugs" from the Federal government. Now they propose putting an armed government employee in every single school across America.

.Wayne LaPierre,. . . said "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

Bank guardsSecurity personsPoliceMilitaryCIAFBISecret Service

He gave a few examples as those above.

True -- if there were no guns in the U.S. those people mentioned above would not need their guns.

Is it possible to rid the U.S. of guns? We've had lots of buy-backs where folk turn in guns of all kinds of for money given in return.

We can ban automatics, clips/barrels with more than 8 - 10 rounds. How do we get people who have them now to turn them in?

We can make a registry of persons having mental illness/conditions and try to keep guns out of their hands.

We can make a waiting period of 3 to 5 to a month or whatever before one can take possession of a gun they've purchased.

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Computer games or any games that are war-like, shoot 'em ups, dangerous, etc. Should we ban them? They can't be made any more? Only adults can buy them [but we know kids would get their hands on them anyway].

How can one control those street gangs that use to be mostly in large cities like LA, Chicago, NYC, but now even show up in small places like my own home town? How long have we been trying to find solutions to rioting and things that pop up like Watts, in California, oh heck!

You all know I like guns for sport. I have all my life. I played cowboys after seeing horrible movies with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. I shot the bad guys and forgive me, some injuns too! I was a kid during WWII and played war with a windup tommy gun and lots of other toy guns. I tend to like movies as an adult that have violence, nudity [just a wee bit], fights, and the good guys winning in the end.

As a result of the above, I'll come clean and tell you a secret -- I have not killed anyone one and have never committed a crime or spent time in prison.

I believe there are bad persons, sick people, who get hold of guns who do destructive things. As long as there are guns around those things will continue to happen.

I don't know about armed security guards at schools. Would it work? I don't know. We in my town have had from time to time a police person at out high school. They were not "guards" per se, but just there for people to talk to, relate with, . . .

Naturally they do not care about really trying to regulate gun control they care about how much money they can profit from gun manufacturers and people who are buying these guns at stores and shows. Now they blame video games as an excuse for their real blame themselves.

"I'm a former middle school teacher from a school which has had to deal with violence. I've prepared for "code reds." I've witnessed the impact that gangs have on my students. I've even shielded students when a gun shot rang on school grounds. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but every day hundreds of Americans aren't as lucky. That's why the mass murder at Sandy Hook hit me so hard.

And that's why I can not believe what I saw at the NRA's press conference. Did you catch it yesterday? They broke their week-long silence with a bizarre and disturbing deflection of blame.

The NRA's solution is to put weapons in every school. They think by shifting responsibility to the media, music, movies and video games they can avoid a real conversation about gun violence. They had the gall to make themselves out to be victims and ignore the real victims -- the twenty children and their teachers who were killed last week -- even as the rest of the nation held a moment of silence in their honor. How much more out of touch can they be? They blame violent video games and yet have endorsed a game called "Gun Club." How much more hypocritical can they be?

It's time for that to change. We may not be able to prevent every death, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't address the availability of guns and a missing culture of responsibility.

We know now that we can't count on the NRA to do the right thing. Join me in calling on Congress to pass legislation that would ban assault weapons and limit the number of bullets guns can hold before reloading.

Sign the petition in support of responsible gun legislation. Sign Petition

I own a gun and have been to shooting ranges. I have seen true sportsmen bring down large animals and I respect what these weapons can do. But there is a difference between the right to bear arms and the right to own instruments of war. These weapons are created fully with the intent of killing many people at once. There is no need for these weapons to be on our streets and in our schools.

Help us save lives and stand up for responsible legislation.

It's time we prove the NRA politically irrelevant. It's time we take action to stop gun violence.

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